Beat Flipper Driver

A Blender addon that adds BPM-driven custom-property animation layers to selected objects or object data. It supports both scripted drivers and baked keyed custom properties for music-synced animation, procedural beat effects, and rhythmic switching.

Manual zip installation supports Blender 3.0 or later.

The extension-repository installation path uses the bundled Blender extension manifest, which currently targets Blender 4.2 or later.

---

Installation

From Add-on Repository (Blender feature)

Repository URL for Blender:

https://blender-addon.hidekisaito.com/index.json

Catalog website (human-browsable):

https://blender-addon.hidekisaito.com/

1. In Blender, open Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions.
2. Open the repositories/settings area and add a custom repository URL.
3. Use https://blender-addon.hidekisaito.com/index.json as the repository URL.
4. Refresh repositories, find Beat Flipper Driver, then install/enable it.

From a release zip (recommended)

1. Download beat_flipper_driver-<version>.zip from the Releases page.
2. In Blender, open Edit > Preferences > Add-ons.
3. Click Install…, select the downloaded .zip, and confirm.
4. Enable Beat Flipper Driver in the add-ons list.

From source

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Zip only the beat_flipper_driver/ folder:

   zip -r beat_flipper_driver.zip beat_flipper_driver/
   

3. Install the zip via Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Install….

---

Usage

1. Select one or more objects in the 3D Viewport.
2. Open the N-panel (press N) and go to the Beat Flip tab.
3. Configure the settings, then click Add Driver.

Each add creates a custom-property layer on the selected target block:

• First layer: beat_flipper_value
• Additional layers: beat_flipper_value.001, beat_flipper_value.002, and so on

The layer is created either on the object itself or on its object-data block, depending on the selected Target mode.

---

Panel Reference

Target

Control	Description
Object	Store the beat-flipper properties on the object.
Object Data	Store the beat-flipper properties on the object's data block (mesh, curve, etc.). Objects without data are skipped.

Range

Control	Description
Min	Lower bound of the output value (0.0 – 1.0).
Max	Upper bound of the output value (0.0 – 1.0).
BPM	Beats per minute. Must be greater than 0. Determines how often the value changes.
BPM Multiplier	Multiplies BPM for interval calculation. Default is 1.0. Must be greater than 0. Useful for creating faster/slower beat layers from the same base BPM.

Value Mode

Option	Description
Randomized	Picks a value in the Min–Max range on each beat. See sub-options below.
Static (Min/Max)	Alternates strictly between Min and Max each beat.

Randomization Type (visible when Value Mode = Randomized)

Option	Description
Per Phase	Generates a fresh pseudo-random value on every BPM phase step. Uses a deterministic hash so scrubbing the timeline is stable.
Per Object Constant	Picks two random values at driver-creation time and alternates between them. Values are baked into the expression and stay fixed.

Value Scope (visible when Value Mode = Randomized)

Option	Description
Per Object	Each selected object gets its own independent random values / sequence.
Shared Across Objects	All selected objects share the same random values / sequence.

Transition Mode

Option	Description
Synchronized	All selected objects change at the same time. You can offset the pattern with Phase Offset.
Randomized Between Objects	Each object receives a random phase offset so changes are staggered.

Phase Offset (visible in non-keyed mode)

Control	Description
Phase Offset	Offsets the beat pattern start by a number of frames. Only used for non-keyed synchronized mode.

Keyed Mode

When Bake As Keyed Property is enabled, the addon bakes values as keyframes on the custom property instead of adding a scripted driver.

Behavior in keyed mode:

• The animation starts from Start Frame.
• Transition Mode and Phase Offset are hidden and not used.
• The add-on keys only beat-change points rather than every frame.

Frame Range (visible in keyed mode)

Control	Description
Start Frame	First frame used for keyed baking.
End Frame	Last frame used for keyed baking. Must be greater than or equal to Start Frame.

Keyed Interpolation (visible in keyed mode)

Control	Description
Use Interpolation	Enables interpolation between keyed beat-change points.
Lerp (Linear)	Uses linear interpolation between keyed values.
Smoothstep	Uses smooth Bezier interpolation between keyed values.

When Use Interpolation is disabled, keyed values use constant interpolation for hard steps.

---

Buttons

Button	Description
Add Driver	Adds a new beat-flipper layer to each selected target. In non-keyed mode this is a scripted driver; in keyed mode this is baked keyframes. Repeated presses add Blender-style suffixed layers such as .001, .002, etc. Disabled when the keyed frame range is invalid.
Remove Latest Driver	Removes only the highest-numbered driver layer from each selected object.
Clear Beat-Flipper Drivers	Removes all beat-flipper drivers and their custom properties from each selected object.

---

Driver Properties

Each layer creates two custom properties on the target block:

Property	Description
beat_flipper_value / beat_flipper_value.001 / ...	The output value, either driver-controlled or keyed.
beat_flipper_phase / beat_flipper_phase.001 / ...	The stored phase value used when the layer is created.

---

CI / Packaging

The included GitHub Actions workflow (.github/workflows/package.yml) automatically:

1. Reads the version from bl_info in beat_flipper_driver/__init__.py.
2. Zips the beat_flipper_driver/ directory into beat_flipper_driver-<version>.zip.
3. Uploads the zip as a workflow artifact (retained 90 days).
4. On a version tag push (v*), creates a GitHub Release and attaches the zip.

To publish a new release, push a tag:

git tag v1.3.0
git push origin v1.3.0

---

License

This project is provided as-is. See COPYING if present.